Who's Who In Blues

October 31, 2003|BY SEAN PICCOLI POP MUSIC WRITER

Just when it seemed they had lapsed into an annual sameness, organizers of the Sound Advice Blues Festival got inspired. The 17th edition opening tonight shows more range and imagination in the programming than any in the past four years, and the event is crowned by a surprising headliner: Solomon Burke, a protean singer whose gospel-fired soul music is not so much blues as blues-drenched.

Add the deep acoustic blues of Rory Block, the party-time swing of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, the guitar wizardry of Michael Burks and a youthful "Blues in the Schools" showcase led by veteran Fruteland Jackson -- and a weekend worthy of 2003, "The Year of the Blues," awaits. Here are a few more reasons to cheer the festival, which runs through Sunday on the grounds of Fort Lauderdale Stadium.

A 90-year career

Pinetop Perkins (4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sound Advice Main Stage)

When singer and guitarist Bob Margolin plays on Saturday with his All-Star Blues Jam sextet, take note of the piano player: 90-year-old Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins. Along with his thunder-and-lightning piano technique, Pinetop boasts what may be the longest living resume in blues.

The Belzoni, Miss., native picked up music literally as a child and even before his teens was playing guitar at parties under the nickname "Little Willie." A move to piano helped him secure work on the legendary King Biscuit Flour radio broadcasts, followed by stints with B.B. King and Willie Dixon, among others, and an 11-year run in Muddy Waters' band. Perkins also gave a young Ike Turner piano lessons, helping Turner launch his own storied career. The stage name came from Perkins' boisterous version of Pinetop's Boogie Woogie, by Pinetop Smith.

Ribald Mr. Rush

Bobby Rush (3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sound Advice Main Stage)

This Louisiana-born singer and instrumentalist offers up ribald songs and stage antics that, with help from his female backing singers, border on the burlesque. Should it surprise anyone that Rush, 62, is a preacher's son?

He got his start as a showman leading a more conventional blues band that featured future guitar standouts including Luther Allison and Freddie King. By stirring up blues with funk and soul -- and a comically lusty lyricism -- Rush created a more distinctive sound and persona for himself. He also scored regional hits such as Chicken Heads and A Woman Named Trouble in the 1970s. He is a veteran of the so-called chitlin ' circuit of Southern clubs and dance halls -- a culture that survives thanks in part to relentless touring by Rush and a handful of other longtime road warriors. Rush also joins bluesman Art Tipaldi at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday for a chat and jam session at the festival's Blues Corner stage.

Mississippi hybrid

Robert Belfour (2:30 p.m. Sunday, Backwoods Acoustic Stage)

Mississippi blues emerged not only from the Delta bottomlands, but from the state's hilly north, where a more country-influenced style prevailed. Belfour's music draws on both: the fingerpicking of acoustic country blues and the hypnotic vocals and hard, string-bending sound of the Delta. His two albums for the Mississippi-based Fat Possum label are powerful examples of this hybrid: Belfour, occasionally backed by a drummer, mesmerizes with just his voice and guitar.

Taylor, 55, is a fearsome storyteller as well as a proficient player, and he uses both talents emphatically. His songs are up-close portraits of struggle, their verses and choruses populated by lynching victims, lost wanderers and people who are just plain unlucky or unloved. Though born in Chicago, the birthplace of full-band electric blues, Taylor plays in a stark acoustic vein, using guitar and banjo and atypical instruments such as cello to accompany his gritty vocalizing.

Slavic songbird

Ana Popovic (6 p.m. Saturday, City Link Stage)

Her music is more rock than blues and her English, when she sings, is unmistakably European. But this native of Yugoslavia demonstrates the lure of blues mythology in territories far from its origins. Popovic, 26, developed a hard-charging guitar and vocal style while touring Europe, but recorded several tracks of her U.S. debut, Hush! in the blues mecca of Memphis. A new album, Comfort to the Soul, pays stylistic tribute to guitar heroes such as Jimi Hendrix and Bonnie Raitt.

Sean Piccoli can be reached at spiccoli@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4832.

SOUND ADVICE BLUES FESTIVAL

Features: National and local music acts, history/cultural workshops, sports tent, arts and crafts, children's activities and food/drink booths.